Reviews

Composer-arranger Anthony Branker, former longtime jazz studies guru at Princeton, turns to his new Imagine quintet for his latest set of forward-looking acoustic-electric pieces. From the titles to the haunting, sometimes meditative textures, a spiritual...

Free-jazz trumpet pioneer Don Cherry’s posthumous legacy continues to grow with this document of a 1980 performance at Jazz Festival Willisau in Switzerland, featuring Cherry along with an old cohort, saxophonist John Tchicai, and a Swiss rhythm section...

Orchestral jazz is always a bit of a dicey proposition, teetering on the edge of pretentiousness. And when it’s performed by a “chamber ensemble” comprising 11 pieces, it’s even less promising. But trumpeter Orbert Davis, director of the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic...

What Was Said is imbued with the pristine austerity and profound contemplation of a vintage ECM record. While the iconic German label has broadened its stylistic offerings considerably over the years, it has consistently opted for artists like the Norwegian...

From 2007 to 2011, trumpeter Tom Harrell delivered a magnificently consistent torrent of all-original material for his stable working quintet: four albums and 36 songs without a cover in the bunch. The five records since then have tinkered with the formula...

Of Italy’s great piano players, Enrico Pieranunzi is the most transatlantic. Stefano Bollani, Danilo Rea and Giovanni Guidi collaborate mostly with other Europeans. Pieranunzi hires North Americans. His most enduring trio included Marc Johnson and Joey Baron...

It is a rather perfect storm: a sterling quartet led by Swedish trombonist and vocalist Nils Landgren, paired with the 17-piece Bochumer Symphoniker across a dozen Leonard Bernstein gems, arranged and conducted by Vince Mendoza, augmented with guest vocals...